Lights
by freefallinginlove
Summary: Technical. Explosive. Scary. That's what Bella is. Musical. Arrogant. Rude. That's Edward Cullen. He needs her to run his shows, but she's not going to take any more abuse. They say a stage is nothing without its crew. What do you think? ExB AH/OOC
1. LXCue 1

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. I do own Russell Howard DVDs to laugh my face off at, though. **_

**_Definitions..._**

_**Blue Filter or Gel:**__ Slightly dims out white light, which means it is less likely to be noticed from off-stage._

_**Gaffer Tape:**__ Will fix absolutely everything or anything. It is the force – it has a dark side, a light side and holds the universe together._

_**The Original Stage Manager:**__ God. He said "LX Cue 1", and the stage was lit._

_**Follow-Spot:**__ Moving Spotlight, as the description suggests, this one moves to follow the specific wearer in a motion-sensitive tagging. _

_**Wireless mic:**__ Handheld microphone as many DJs use. Often used on a stand, but maybe not._

_**Sliders:**__ Much like a dimmer switch, the sliders on a lighting board correspond (are patched into) to a light and control how bright or off a light is. _

_**Black for a living:**__ Any member of the backstage or technical crew is instructed to wear black in order to 'blend' with shadows. Essentially to go ninja-style invisible. _

_**LX-Cue: **__Lighting Effect Cue (number). The order of a lighting cue. _

_**To strike a set:**__ To take down, clear out, put away and generally dismantle a set or piece of the staging. This is usually done when a production or concert is finished, however, if the location is used differently during the day, this may also occur nightly._

* * *

_**Bella**_

The lights were low. They had to be low, because, trapped in such a tiny space; I knew I couldn't be noticed. My tiny Mag-Lite – the only source of light in my cramped box – was wrapped in black Gaffer Tape and had a blue filter taped across the bulb. I was staring out at the full hall and hoping nothing went wrong tonight as I wrapped my right arm around myself and ran my left slowly through my hair. Edward Cullen had been singing here for three nights now, playing a full seven nights until he moved on to the next city with his band, groupies and his roadies.

_Thankfully, I would not be going with him. _

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Mr. Ed-ward Cullen!" Emmett, the club's owner, had decided he would be announcing Edward's entrance over the mic at the beginning of his set, telling me that my voice was far too shrill to be heard over the roar of the crowd as he came onstage, guitar strapped to his back and trademark hat pulled low over his eyes. I rolled my eyes at the back of the man-mountain's head and stretched forward, my hand reaching the follow-spot slider at exactly the same time as Edward took the stage. _Thank the Original Stage Manager I wasn't stumpy._

As he took the stage, and he 'stylishly' swung his guitar over his shoulder and into his hands, I couldn't help but tune out his introduction and the first few bars of his ridiculous intro music, looking around and taking in the bar around me.

Emmett McCarty's club was, for want of better phrasing, extremely well equipped. The spotlights were all high-tech, each and every one of them free standing and equipped with motion sensors, triggered by the tags each band member wearing around their necks, on their belts, or, in the case of Jasper Whitlock, Edward's bassist, on his boot. I had a _don't ask, don't tell _policy about that, he just refused to allow me anywhere near his pants...

"Don't ask, don't tell," I murmured, cringing slightly as I felt Emmett standing at my shoulder, his hand thrusting the wireless microphone he had been using at me, nearly knocking over the bottle of water I had stashed under the sound board in the process.

Ignoring the pounding of the music, and the way it was beating an irritating tattoo on my brain, ensuring my head was going to be in serious pain for the next month or so, I tried to focus on the memory of actually being hired by Edward's manager, Alice Cullen – his little sister, as well, if anyone would believe it.

It wouldn't, or couldn't come, because, as Emmett stepped away from me, he tripped slightly. Suddenly, the sound of pounding drums, as beaten by one Michael Dean Newton, became the only sound in the hall.

_Oh, fuck. _

"Swan!" Emmett was standing over me once again, and my face would have been bright red had there been any light to illuminate it. A loud groan echoed from the crowd as everything went quiet, everyone turning to look in the direction of my desk.

_I was so fired._

"What the hell?" I tried to make it appear as though I had no clue what the hell had happened – not a difficult thing, since I may have been a technical whizz, but this was way out of my league, and ducked under the board, trying to find some kind of explanation for the serious, epic power failure.

I cringed and glanced over my shoulder at him as I realised that when he had tripped, he had pulled the adaptor out of its connector, and it was that lack of power that had killed the entire technical board.

_Schoolgirl error, Bella Swan. Whole Roll of__Gaffer Tape next time._

"Sorry, man," I glanced over at Emmett, and held my hand up over the board, sighing as I plugged the adaptor back in and felt around for the switch, glad that being a techie meant I was totally invisible to everyone.

Until Alice appeared at my side, that was. Her arms, folded in angry frustration as her tiny frame replaced Emmett's, making me quiver with more fear than his hulking form could ever inspire in me. I cringed again, simply because she looked panicked and furious, and I knew it was because I was supposed to know exactly what I was doing, but instead, I was staring miserably down at the floor, the board, and the lights, still warming up.

"I knew I should have hired Eric Yorkie..." I heard her mutter as I tried not to fuck up the next cue, something utterly ridiculous which required, and I quote a 'running... _thing_ from red into green, without it going brown, yeah?' _Who was I? God? _"Instead of taking in some shit-bitch techie-"

"Oh will you shut the fuck up?" I turned back to look at her, and realised that, not only had she been peering over my shoulder as I had been transitioning the sliders for them, and so was far closer than I had expected, but she was _also _getting in my techie booth. "You think it's so easy to sit here, doing this? Well, I tell you what; try doing this after four hours of sleep, two lectures and your own fucking job, Cullen."

And I stood up, using every inch of height to try and intimidate her, because I was exactly the sort of person to get pissed off at this, and _she _was not what I needed when my brain was mid-panic attack; I needed some kind of pill. It was actually going to make me scream – not that that would matter, Ed-ward Cullen's legions of adoring fans would still be there, easily drowning out my descent into Hades.

The bitch didn't budge.

"I'm sorry?" She quirked an eyebrow at me, "You think this is easy? You wear _black _for a living." She waved a hand up and down at herself, "You have no idea what this is."

I levelled my gaze at her for a longer minute and waited for her to back down.

"What time are you leaving for the after-party, Alice? Because by the time _I _get there, I'll have, oh, maybe fifteen minutes before closing." And with that, I was done. As far as I was concerned, she was no longer there, I was running on curt-going-through-the-motions, and handing in my notice tomorrow.

_The local theatre needed a stage manager. Lx Cue 14 – blackout on still-chattering actors. That would be easy, right?_

It took me three hours to strike on my own, that night. Emmett wasn't hanging around, merely asking me to lock up when I left – possibly the dumbest thing I had ever been asked to do – why would he trust me?

But it was the strike that was the most painful thing. I was alone, nobody else to join me in quickly sorting out the smaller pieces of the set – the mic-stands, resetting the speakers, resetting everything and clearing up after the guys, only one of whom – the tall and enigmatic Mr. Whitlock, had thanked me for providing the technical stuff for the evening.

By the time I was done, it was past midnight, and I was rubbing my eyes as I sat down on the stage and looked out across the dance floor, the main area around the stage, imagining the crowds, the adrenaline high that I wished I could feel. There was no way, if I were so musically inclined, I would be able to resist screaming fans and the ridiculous amount of money that I would, hopefully, be making, if I had even half as much talent as Edward Cullen.

The front doors pounded suddenly, and I jolted alert as a bronze-haired whirlwind smashed into the hall, standing stock-still as he noticed me, realising that I was still in the club.

"What're you doing here?" Edward Cullen spat as he hurried around, searching for something. "Shouldn't you have been chucked out as soon as you fucked up the lights? You ruined the show, you know." I really couldn't be arsed to tell him that it hadn't technically been my fault. Better for him to hate me – he would never see me again.

"I've done worse, on less sleep." I stood up and shrugged, "No need to thank me for fixing it, as well as the last three shows I've done for you."

"I won't." He stared. "Alice will fire you, you know."

I looked him dead in the eye and shrugged, "To be honest, she called me a shit-bitch techie. I want respect, so I'd rather quit." I looked at him, feeling nothing but disgust for the singer who clearly thought he was better than me. "I really don't care, Cullen." Another pause as I got up to retrieve my jacket and water bottle, turning to look at him as I got to the doors. "By the way, I thought you were awesome, tonight."

"Oh, Thanks, er..." He stopped and looked at me, clearly expecting me to supply my name.

"Don't worry, there's no point," A pause, "You wouldn't remember it anyway." I threw my jacket over my shoulders and walked away, letting the doors close behind me and the cold night air wrap around me.

_Set struck._

* * *

_A/N: Any thoughts? _


	2. LXCue 2

_**Disclaimer: Not mine. You know it, I know it, but I own an extremely comfortable set of blacks that I would wear happily for the rest of my life.**_

_**Yes. Edward is a douche. Do get mad. We will get even. **_

**_BLOG: www (dot) lxcue14 (dot) wordpress (dot) com _**_(ANDAND read the LXCue: Tabwarmers in the pages section, please!)_

_**MaHOOsive thanks to the awesome Mouse555 for beta'ing me, this would be fail without her ; )**_

__

**Enjoy!**

* * *

_**Edward**_

"Ladies and Gentlemen! My Name Is Edward Cullen! And I Am Here To En-ter-_tain_!" I threw my arms up and waited for the screams, then ducked my head and let the power of the audience overtake me. I allowed the screaming of hundreds of girls to overcome me, and could feel the animosity radiating toward the stage from the slightly-oppressed boyfriends, forced to come because their girlfriends fancy _me, _here because they hoped to see me fuck up so they could leave early with their girls_. _It was a pure adrenaline rush and I loved it. I _needed_ it and it made me who I was.

Jasper thought I was a douche. He told me that at least once a day, but then again, he also said, quite confidently, that I was the sort of person who could get away with being said douche, and that nobody cared because I made good music, and people wanted me for that.

I just thought _he_ wanted me. Jasper had made it _very_ clear three months into our original tour, that he was gay. Alice had been hitting on him from the second she had seen him pick up the blue bass guitar that he had owned since he was nine. I genuinely thought he may have 'come out' solely because he was sick of her come-ons. He'd never had a boyfriend in the time that I had known him, and he certainly was a bit of a charmer. I seriously had my suspicions about that little bombshell.

We launched into the set, playing through the album and inserting some random new stuff into the order, much to the chagrin of Jasper and Mike. I was stunned that they had stuck by me both across the country and through the past three years, because hell, I know I was ridiculous, demanding and drunk through most of it, but I was having my own damn fun.

Finishing the set and starting back to the green room, I stepped from the stage to wolf-whistles and catcalls, grinning like a lunatic from the high that being onstage gave me. The pounding, rushing of blood in my ears was almost more than enough to drown out the sound of Jasper grabbing the microphone I had abandoned and thanking the technical crew for making everything possible.

Every night he thanked them, every night I rolled my eyes, and every night I thought back to that stupid club where that silly bitch fucked up my set, most likely completely on purpose. It would have been nice to have fired her, but no, she quit, taking that satisfaction with her, and Emmett had been forced to hire the little Chinese dude with the garlic breath who had insisted on changing the light set-up. He insisted Jasper wear the follow-spot icon on his belt, rather than his boot, which just made him uncomfortable, but no, Eric Yorkie wasn't listening.

If I ever saw that skinny brunette bitch ever again, I would either kill her or pour coke over her light board. _Fizz-Boom-Kapow! _Just like my fucking lights.

"Hey, yo, Edward!" I span on my heel and looked over at Mike. He was running a hand through his blonder-than-blonde, clearly out of a bottle hair, and stretching tiredly. I'd concede that it couldn't be easy constantly having to sit cramped behind his drums all night. "Are you coming to the bar tonight? I hear we're checking out the... er, local talent," He grinned back at me as I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "Aww, man." He sighed, "You're never any fun."

"Yeah, well," I had no argument to that, "I might come later."

He perked up at the excuse and admission I had used about a billion times before, and grinned up at me, his face lighting up like a puppy returned to its master. I sighed and stretched my arms up, hoping my back would crack.

"I need a damn shower, though, Mike. Text me the name of the club and I'll let you know if I'm coming." He nodded and I pressed through into the green room, picking up my bag and jacket and crossing to the stage door, readying myself for the mad sprint to the limo.

**-E-A-M-C-x-B-M-S-**

I kept my eyes on the girl who was dancing with her friend at the bar. The ginger was the slutty one, obviously, her hair twisted up in some kind of pony-fail, with bits of hair all over the place and her tits almost falling out of her top, whilst the little brunette one looked like she just didn't want to be there.

"What're you eyeing up, man?" I looked over at my sister, who was practically lying on the chair she was sitting in, her fingers wrapped around the beer bottle she was clutching as though her life depended on it.

"Jesus, are you tired or just hammered?"

"Yeah," She nodded not specifying her particular issue, "Still, I'd rather be your manager than working the techs," She glanced up at the bar stage, no music was playing, but there were speakers and guitars set up for a late night gig. "That's shit, that is." She giggled, looking down at her beer, "You get shit on by everyone. The musicians," She glanced over at me, "The actors, the dancers... _god_, everyone hates you."

"I don't hate _all_ techies," I shrugged, "Just the ones who fuck shit up when you're not looking," I looked over at her, then over at Jasper, who was leaning against the bar near the girls, "Hm, maybe I'll just... go see if I can get a drink."

I rose to see the brunette girl swinging her arms up into the air and the redheaded one standing next to her putting her hands on her hips as though she was furious about something. There was a long pause and the brunette sighed, looked as though she was rolling her eyes and strode over to Jasper. I stood back to watch the fun unfold.

She tapped his shoulder, he turned around, his eyes widening as he noticed the petite thing looking at him, a half-smile, half-scowl on her face. His face broke into a grin as she said something and he suddenly grabbed her hand, pulling her away from the bar and spinning her in a slow circle, before pulling her into the throng of people on the dance floor which pissed me off royally.

I rolled my eyes and strode up to the redhead at the bar, hoping for a quick something-or-other just to get the brunette's number or something like that. The proverbial "has your mate got a boyfriend" line. Until the redhead looked at me, and I knew exactly what verbal vomit was going to erupt from her mouth less than three seconds later.

"E-Edward Cullen!?" She shrieked, I immediately cringed as an inordinate amount of people felt that ridiculous magnetic pull that anyone and everyone seemed to feel toward a celebrity, and suddenly there were iPhones, Cameras, and BlackBerries pointed at me. My head was spinning.

I took a couple of steps backwards and managed to stumble into Jasper and the Brunette, who was now officially known only by her hair colour. Her mouth had dropped open and her eyes were wide as she glanced between Jasper and I and she took a step away from Jasper.

"What's the matter? Want an autograph?" I managed to spit as she stepped toward me, her hand reaching out for something behind me. She didn't even look at me and I saw red because I was _used _to getting looked at. I _liked _being the centre of attention, and she was too pretty not to want me.

I grabbed her wrist as she went to pick up her bag and her eyes widened as she winced then glanced over at me.

"Do you mind?" She tried to gesture, but now I had her attention I wasn't going to let her go. "Will you let go of me?" She spoke in time with her attempts to tug her arm away from mine, and whimpered when I tightened my grip on her, my fingers finally relenting when Jasper curled his arm around her and pulled both her and her bag away from me and her redhead friend.

_I knew that bastard wasn't gay. _

Five minutes later, I returned to our table, Victoria, the loud mouthed redhead, in tow, giggling loudly and staring at Mike and Alice as though she had just found the Holy Grail, and was intending to steal it away.

"Where's your lead guitarist?" She asked suddenly, and I looked around for Peter, only to find him wrapped around Charlotte, his girlfriend who travelled with us wherever we went, usually to irritate us and keep us in line, like the big sister to the group as she publicised us alongside Alice's terrifying strain of what could just about be termed as management. I jerked my thumb over at her and she laughed at the display. "Bella would kill to see this."

"Bella?" Mike looked over at Victoria and quirked an eyebrow, "Like that hottie-tech chick that did McCarty's bar?" I looked at him, disgusted at the thought of having that... _thing_ brought up during one of my rare-ish nights out. "Damn that name's getting common."

I rolled my eyes and shook my head, taking a deeper pull at the new bottle I had bought at the bar and half-gagged as it went down the wrong pipe, choking the hell out of my throat. We chatted for a while, until Victoria eventually had to go – which was sad, because I was kinda interested in her friend, even though she'd disappeared somewhere with Jasper, and we hadn't heard a thing from him since.

I was tired. I wondered whether it was the alcohol, the gig or just the boredom of doing the same thing day-in, day-out was getting to me.

My mind flickered to the brunette again, and I couldn't help but wonder what the hell was going on with them, with her, with him.

Part of me wanted to follow them, but they were already gone.

* * *

_A/N: Any thoughts? x_


	3. LXCue 3

_**Disclaimer: Me? Own Twilight? Heh! That'll be the day. I will, very soon, have my own "ORIGINAL Technical Crew" T-shirt, from my old school. Which will be awesome. And I'll wear it. A lot. **_

_**Mouse555 is my SoulBeta. She is hilarious, she is fantastic and she has pulled me outta many a sticky situation. Read her work, it's brill-yunt. There's a blog for this – check the top of chapter 2**_

_**Definitions for The Road:**_

_**Parcans:**__ A kind of light which is hung above the stage. They're the usual lights you'd think of if you're thinking of stage lighting. _

_**Coffee, Red Bull & Sugary Foods: **__Exactly how techies endeavour to gain their energy and liveliness._

_**Flylines:**__ If you've ever seen a piece of the set, or a backdrop, fall into place from nowhere, it'll be because it's been flown in on a line by a techie hiding on the catwalk above the stage. These are called flylines._

_**Striplights:**__ Lights, usually in a set of three, which are joined and work as one, to offer a broader stripe of light. Usually used to light a backdrop, or Cyclorama (Cyc) – Backdrop._

_Enjoy! & Let me know your thoughts – and anything else you want to tell me. _

* * *

_**Jasper: **_

Before I'd ever picked up a guitar, and realised that I could sing, I had been a techie in high school. I loved scrambling up the ladders and rigging the Parcans up in the sky, along with the other misfits that enjoyed theatre tech but had no idea what was going on for the rest of the play. We just turned up in the last week of rehearsals and changed everything to suit us.

We lit concerts as well, so when, three years ago, I had been fortunate to join Edward Cullen's band, I knew exactly what would have been going through the lighting techie's head as they sat at the back of the hall, watching for cues and hoping that they didn't screw it up.

I always made a point to thank the crew whenever I could, and even, for the last gig in any place, bought them coffee, Red Bull and sugary foods in order to keep them happy and appeased. Charlotte, Peter's girlfriend, seemed to understand, but none of the others – Alice, Peter, Mike and _especially _Edward, seemed to get the weight that the lighting and sound riggers had to bear as they worked on each show. It was tiring – they were often the last to leave, hours after everyone was finished and probably hammered in the nearest pub. It was stressful, because the manager or the singer, or the director, or the actor would decide that they didn't like those lights, and they had to be fixed as soon as possible, or else, and it was worst for the stage manager, because they were the ones that had to shut up and take the verbal abuse, ninety-nine percent of the time.

I knew, because I had been one.

As I leaned against the bar and hoped that I could get the attention of the hot bartender, I felt a small hand tap me on the shoulder and hoped that it wasn't anyone that wanted to get in my pants. I turned, ready to tell them I was sorry, but it wasn't going to happen tonight, but my mouth dropped open and I lost my words as I realised who was standing in front of me.

"Bella Swan." I said, before she could say anything, "I hear you're successful now." _It was true. _I looked her up a couple of months ago because we were on the lookout for a permanent lighting technician, and discovered she now owned fifty-percent of a fringe theatre, working her share as a lighting technician or a stage manager, her friend worked out all the administration stuff. It was stunning to know that their technical team consisted of between five and seven people, and their front of house was all of around three.

I had wanted to join up as soon as I had read that they were hiring for sound technicians.

"Funny thing, Jasper," She glanced up at me, "I hear you're thriving too." She winked as I grabbed her hand pulling her away from the bar, spinning her in her ridiculous heels and dragging her to the dancefloor, where, as was customary, we danced.

About twenty minutes later, she was clearly tired, and didn't particularly want to go home alone – her friend Victoria was holding her bag, but we could see somebody cuddling up to her, and she didn't want to be _too_ much of a third wheel.

"Want to get out of here?" I asked, and she looked me up and down, a little bit more than confused.

"I thought you... you know," She raised an eyebrow and shrugged, "Batted sideways?"

"Brilliant turn of phrase," I managed as soon as my laughter subsided, "Bisexual," I clarified, and she nodded knowingly, "but hey, I never said I wanted to fuck you, did I?"

"No," She sighed and conceded, "But you never said you didn't. A girl can hope, right?" We lapsed into an easy silence, punctuated by the occasional twirling of Bella under my arm.

I should probably explain. This was the girl who, three years ago, had 'destroyed' one of Edward's shows by killing the sound and lights halfway through a song. _Except she hadn't done it. _McCarty, the owner of the bar, had gotten too close to the equipment and had disconnected one of the plugs. I think I was the only one who had been standing enough out of the light and had been in the right position to see him fall. Not that he would admit it, _oh no_.

Everyone always needed a scapegoat, and I had been too afraid to apologise to her. I was going to say something, but she had quit before I had the chance. So I had called her three days after the band had left, apologised and told her that I knew exactly how she had felt. We had left it at that, but her number was still in my phone, and I wasn't afraid to call old friends when we were in the same place for a while.

So I guessed we were friends, maybe. Until Edward grabbed her in front of all those cameras and held her there far longer than was appropriate.

"Do you mind?" There was silence – he clearly didn't recognise her, and I knew it was because his head was too stuck up his arrogant, albeit talented ass to think about the little people that made everything possible. "Will you let go of me?" She clearly recognised him. The look of disgust on her face when she was forced to look up at him told me everything I needed to know.

_He was hurting her, so I essentially pissed all over my territory. _She was my friend, my girl; he wasn't going to burn her more than he already had. I pulled her away from him and we stumbled out into the night, looking for a taxi to take the pair of us home.

"Hey!" She looked at me suddenly, leaning over conspiratorially, "D'ya want to see the theatre?" Her laughter was light, and I loved it, "Reminisce about high school and all that?"

"You remember me telling you that?"

"Jasper, that conversation, you telling me you knew exactly..." She shook her head, giving the cabbie the address of the theatre, "I'll explain when we get there, okay?"

**-L-I-G-H-T-S-**

We pulled up and she practically sprinted toward the door, fishing some keys and a lanyard from nowhere, grinning manically as she pulled the smaller, hidden front door open, and we materialised just inside the foyer of the theatre. It was small, but pretty, and I definitely liked its shabby charm. I liked old things, except lovers.

"We've only been open for the past, what, five months? But we've had sell-out nights, and we rent out to the local schools and stuff, so we're actually making money," She grinned up at me, speaking faster than she could have ever spoken sober. "Come on, I'll show you the auditorium."

"You're sure?" I looked around, wondering if she was hiding a boyfriend or someone that would beat the crap out of me in the shadows. Her hurt expression made me change tack immediately, "I mean, it's late, and you've probably got a show tomorrow?"

"No! That's the beauty of it!" She giggled, alcohol was a wonderful thing. "Mondays and Thursdays, we keep free."

"Nice," I grinned, genuinely impressed as she pushed open the heavy door to the auditorium and I took in the seating plan. The light desk was set in the back wall, higher than the rest of the chairs, and I had to admit, I was desperate to get in there and fiddle with the buttons, but as Bella threw herself down in one of the seats in the front row, I heard her sigh and wondered what was wrong.

"I wish," She said suddenly, not looking at me, but staring up at the flylines as she spoke, "That we got more credit." She watched me as I sat down beside her, "Did you ever do proper musical shows at your high school? You said you teched, but..."

"Not real ones, but we had huge, kickass productions," I said, grinning back at her. "Why?"

"I remember the last one I did, final year. I had been put down to work backstage, and we were supposed to have one of the drama teachers working as stage manager. Last minute," She glanced over at me, "He left us high and dry. I had two days to re-jig the entire crew, and I ended up working as Stage Manager, did all the duties of the Assistant Stage Manager, and didn't get any credit for it in the programme because that damn teacher had put his own name down ahead of mine. I freaking ran that show with six, bored kids who were three years younger than me – just fourteen, fifteen at a stretch, and we did it without a hitch, four nights in a row." I was amazed, just doing one of those jobs is hard enough, but all at the same time. Just that sentence made me look at her in a new light.

"It must have been difficult," I glanced over at her, and saw she was nearly in tears. "Hey! It's a big achievement... Don't cry-"

"Wait up a second; I haven't got to the important bit." She smiled at me, through her tears and let out a short laugh. "One of the guys – he played Kenickie – we were doing Grease." She smiled again, "He had been on the team with me the year before, knew me really, really well, and he knew how hard it was. I can still remember the speech he made on the last night. '_That everything you don't see is the hardest thing of all, and that the person that made it right, that made everything happen and made us all keep going, she needs to come out here,_' And I got my five minutes in the spotlight." She blinked back the tears again, and grinned back at me, "_This girl_," She sniffed, "_She's the biggest stress-head I know. She's worked so hard, and she's going to hate me for doing this, because she gets so easily embarrassed, but we couldn't have done it without her_, _so I think she deserves that recognition. She's the best stage manager this school's ever had, hands down, and... we love her, don't know what the department would do without her." _

She was still crying, still blushing, but her head was held higher than I had ever seen it.

"He was very like you, Jasper, so much respect for others, so much honest-to-god love for the people that made everything possible," She smiled at me, and I wrapped an arm around her shoulder, "You're a good man, Jazz Whitlock. Enigmatic, puzzling, but good." Puzzling? I didn't think so.

I looked down at her, and then back up at the stage, pulling her closer to me and planting a soft kiss on her cheek. We sat in silence for a while, just looking up at the semi-darkened stage; simply musing and watching the striplights at the back of the stage half-illuminate the entire auditorium.

"Bella?" I glanced over at her, locking my tired eyes with hers as she shifted in her seat and looked up at me, blinking. I rose, taking her hand and pulling her up onto the stage, with more than a little undignified scrambling, "How about ten minutes in _my _spotlight?"

* * *

_A/N: ?!_


	4. LXCue 4

Disclaimer: Not mine. No. Not at All. I do, however, own a great hatred for StudentFinance UK. I had problems, my is currently having problems, I want to burn them down. _Hey! Jasper - canya do anything about that?! ... (grins)_

**_AAH! Mouse555! I love you! You are my epic Beta and I love thee! You provide a speedy turnaround and MANY a laugh in our late evening chats. You are hilarious and funny and awesome! thankyouuuuu so much! : )_**

* * *

Le Definitions:

**Master Blackout:** Can effectively plunge everything into darkness when pressed. Kills the lights.

**Stage Fright:** Does what it says on the tin. Being afraid to perform in front of others. Hehehe...

**Downstage Left:** Front of stage, at the right, if you're looking from the audience.

**Controls (or Sliders):** Control individual lights – press five up, the light plugged/patched into five will come up.

**Cyc (or Cyclorama):** More commonly known as a backdrop, it is the back of the stage – often plain white, with gobo'ed spotlights (patterned lights) shone on it.

* * *

**Bella: **

"Why'm I onstage?" I mused aloud as he positioned me exactly where he wanted me, standing with my jacket halfway down my arms, jutting my chest out as a result of the position of my arms.

"Just stand there. I'm asking the questions." A pause, "Does your light box need a key? Or a code?" I whispered the code to him and he nodded, "Just stand there." And he was gone; I watched his tall, firm form sprinting away into the darkness as I was left standing there.

I relaxed my shoulders and shrugged my jacket back on, chuckling as I heard him rebuke me from the back of the hall.

"That was naughty, Bella," He said, "Back in position. Just let me bring the lights up." I shut my eyes, and felt the warm glow of the lights wash over me as I waited patiently. Just two lights, I realised as I opened my eyes, both directed in a halo around me. I could feel him standing beside me only a minute later, not speaking, just standing.

"Jasper, what're you-" _Jasper tasted really good. _

His lips were pressed against my own, and his hand slowly slid up to my shoulder as he pulled me to stand in the middle of the light, stumbling back with my lips attached to his, before I got stage fright and tried to bolt anywhere fast. I knew Rosalie would be in early to make sure that everything was in place, and I didn't want her to find me, us, fast asleep downstage left.

So I bolted to my safe haven – the light box.

"Where're you headed?" He caught up with me easily, pressing my back up against the wall and catching me around the waist. He pulled me up against him tightly, making me giggle and give up on trying to break away. He was fast, I would give him that. The pink tip of his tongue flickered out to touch my lips and I let out a ridiculous groan.

"Somewhere dark. Very dark." I laughed as he pulled at my jacket – which I'd forgotten to take off as I sprinted away, "Come on." I gripped his hand and pulled it away from my chest, instead tugging him to one of the few places I felt safe.

He lifted me easily in his deceptively strong arms, shifting my skirt and running his hands across the skin of my thighs as he sat me down on top of the desk, and I shifted so I was comfortable, my hand splaying out over the master controls and flashing up god knows how many lights on the Cyc in the process of moving far closer to his ridiculously soft and luscious lips – ones that were too sweet, surely, to belong to a man.

Those same lips turned up in a smile as he gently twisted his fingers into my hair and I slammed my hand down as he tugged, simply loving the feel of him pulling against me.

_Everything went dark as I realised I'd hit the Master Blackout button._

_**-L-I-G-H-T-S- -L-I-G-H-T-S- -L-I-G-H-T-S- -L-I-G-H-T-S-**_

**Rosalie:**

I opened the stage doors and checked the notice boards for the times of the performances today, frowning when I saw nothing – until I remembered that _La Bella Rosa _was hosting school tours today – and interviewing _again _for a sound technician.

Then I realised that the lights in the foyer were already on, and I was immediately on guard, taking it very slow as I stepped into the auditorium, freezing as I heard a deep voice swear loudly, until I heard the distinct sound of Bella giggling chiming in from the lighting box.

"Hey, get your foot out of there!" He groaned and she laughed even harder, standing up as I looked down at the space underneath the technical boxes, noting several pieces of clothing resting on the carpet. "Jasper!"

"Bel-la!" He mocked back, and she giggled again, "Are you still drunk?"

"No!" she huffed, folding her arms as I rounded the back row of chairs and stood up on the arm rests, balancing rather precariously and trying my best not to laugh as I watched a semi-naked Bella stumbling around the light box, attempting to avoid the very naked man standing in the back of the box, staring shamelessly at Bella's butt. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at him as he caught me watching them, arms folded, still shaking terribly as I tried to keep my damn balance.

"Hello," I managed, in my best condescending tone, before my heels gave out and I went flying backwards, landing rather painfully in the second row from the back. I never realised how much I liked our ceiling until that very moment.

There was a hurried scuffle and I was suddenly met with the upside-down vision of a semi-naked Bella - which wasn't much different from the right side up version. The blush was exactly the same.

"Please tell me you didn't climb out of the box and jump?" I managed as she set me upright. Her trademark blush told me everything I needed to know. "When did you get all athletic?"

"I'm not, really," She shrugged, "Jasper gave me a leg up."

"More like a leg over, from the looks of it," I raised an eyebrow and she lifted her chin defiantly, looking back over at the box with quite the affectionate smile. He, Jasper, whoever he was, was stumbling around, clearly attempting to pull on boxers, or the suchlike.

"She kicked me!" I heard him shriek pettily, the groan which accompanied it almost painful as he found his way to the front of the box and grinned down at me, extending his hand to me. I looked him up and down and he winked at me. "G'mornin', gorgeous."

"Really?" I didn't take his hand, "One, you've just fucked my friend, and two, god only knows where that hand's been in the past eight hours." He blushed this time, and I felt some kind of sympathy for him, "Wet wipes are under the sound board." He turned away and I couldn't help but reach up and smack the extremely cute butt that had broken Bella's dry spell.

_And for my next trick Rosalie the harlot. _I dropped my voice and added a layer of velvet to it.

"I'm Rosalie, by the way, Jasper." Bella let out a giggle-gasp and I felt something soft hit the back of my head, most likely either her bra or her shirt. Rolling my eyes, I turned and winked at her, suddenly feeling a hard smack at the back of my head, followed by the crinkle of plastic packaging. I turned, rubbing the back of my head, to see Jasper looking at me with a ridiculous but stunning grin on his face.

"Oops." He smirked, and I couldn't help but smirk back, "My bad."

"Cheeky fucker_." Oh, I liked him. He would be so good for Bella._

Bella appeared at my side and crouched down to pick up the clothes that had been sitting on the floor all night.

"Jasper, your shirt's here, and your socks." She sniggered and passed them up to him, as he threw down her top and skirt. "Er, Rose?" She looked at me, "Do you think we could go and use the showers?"

I looked between them and quirked an eyebrow at the knowing smirk on Jasper's face.

"Uh-uh, Whitlock," Bella got there before I could even start to speak, "_I'd _have your balls, and you're coming home with me tonight," She laughed because he nodded like a trained puppy, "You can use the actors' bathroom, and I'll use the techies'." A short pause and she grinned, looking over at me with a quick wink, "Have we got spare blacks?"

"Ummhmm," I nodded at her and told Jasper to follow me. He did, and by the time we had found him black jeans and a t-shirt that fit, Bella had found us in the cupboard, and was searching for her own T-shirt, marked with _'LX CREW'_ in shiny white letters.

As he came back from his shower and looked over at us, clad in black and wearing a ridiculous grin, Bella and I shared a glance which said just one thing.

_Jasper was going to fit right in. _

* * *

_A/N: Leaving some love, are we?!_


	5. LXCue 5

_**Disclaimer: No. No I don't. I know you're thinking I do, but I don't. I do, however, own a blossoming romance, so my days of being single are numbered. (Ha. Ha. Ha. Edward Doucheward Cullen)**_

_**No Definitions, But lots of LOOOL-ing **_

_**Mouse555 is just amazing. Read her things - she's funny, kind, keeps me awake when I'm afraid the 100Monkeys are coming after me (I wish)... She's a flickawesome Beta, too!**_

* * *

_**Alice:**_

_Where was he? Where was he? Where the __**hell**__ was he?_

I rubbed my eyes again and looked around the hall, hoping that Jasper would appear suddenly, somewhere, laughing and joking and pretending that he had been there all the time. My hair must have been standing on end, because I had run my fingers through it at least thirty times in the past ten minutes, and the shallow part of me _really _hoped that I didn't look like my douche of a brother, Edward, because, as we, unfortunately, were related, our hair colour was a remarkably similar shade, and these fans could be damn dangerous.

Admittedly, I had recently dyed my hair black - around the same time as Mike's sudden transition to bottle-blonde, which was beside the point – both Edward and I had inherited the sudden-sex-hair gene, and I honestly didn't want anybody to think I was getting... _close..._ to my brother. _Just eurgh. _

"Where the fuck is he?" Edward bellowed as he appeared at the side of the stage, the venue still closed for soundcheck. He was frantic, now, because they should have started the warm-ups and checks about half an hour ago, and we were still waiting on Jasper-fucking-Whitlock to get started. _Who the hell did he think he was?_

"Like I have a clue!" I retorted, looking over at my brother with a huge scowl on my face, "Do you reckon he fucked that girl?" I hoped to god he didn't, I mean, can you say '_fag_ _hag'_?

"Excuse me?"

"The brunette, from the club. Do you reckon he fucked her? Dirty slut if ever there ever was one, obvi-" The door banged open and I was cut off by the shouted apology as Jasper sprinted past me, carrying a box of something and heading straight for the backstage crew.

"I have Red Bull!" He yelped, "Who's in?" He was practically mobbed by all of them, the Stage Manager looking on disapprovingly but finally relenting when she was offered a couple of cans. "Guys, I have a newfound love for you." He nodded at them all, "Seriously, I really want to thank you all for the past couple of nights, and hope that everything goes as well as it has done in the past – we couldn't do this without you guys." He nodded again to signify the end of his speech, and put the half-empty crate of pure caffeine down on the steps that led up to the stage, then grinned up at both Edward and I as if that exchange had not even occurred.

"Where the fuck have you been, douchebag?" Edward spat, and I was pretty sure that the tips of his ears had turned bright red with fury under his mess of hair, "We've been waiting for you."

"Didn't you get my message? I did call Peter." He rolled his eyes at me, hoping for a display of solidarity and I sighed, shaking my head at him, "What? I told you I was going to be late! I rang both of you, but your cell is _off_, Edward, and Alice, you change your number every other day, how the hell am I supposed to keep track?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I raised an eyebrow at him, "_Hmm_?"

"Nothing!" He held his hands up in an attempt to defend himself, "Seriously guys, Mike's always late, and Peter! Why can't I be late for once?" His hands were now on his hips, and if I didn't '_know'_ he was '_gay'_ that single stance, with his pouty lip and exaggerated posture would have definitely thrown me a bone.

"Because." And Edward left it at that, Jasper just looking at him as he frowned and stormed over to the stage again, clomping his boots deliberately in an attempt to irritate all of us beyond belief. It worked.

"Hey!" Jasper looked over at Edward, "Doucheward." My brother quirked his eyebrow and turned to him, "Just because _you _didn't get laid last night, doesn't mean you can rain on everyone else's parade."

"What?" Edward held up the guitar he was planning on sounding first, "Just because you spend an evening with some random dude and a bottle of lube, doesn't mean you can show whenever you want and make us late for rehearsal, does it?" I'd never heard Edward use Jasper's sexuality against him before.

"Yeah, well, maybe I didn't need the lube – it wasn't as if _**she **_was complaining!" He barked back, suddenly looking far more masculine to me. That was when I realised his implication, and let out a little growl. _I knew he wasn't gay. _I instantly felt the burn of rejection. _Bastard!_

"He, she, all the same to you queens, isn't it?" Edward turned away and set the guitar back on its rack.

"Whatever asshole, you'd love to get your mitts on my lube." Jasper smirked and looked over at me; I simply glared back at him. The way his night was going, he would be looking in the job listings for something new very, _very _soon.

I just needed the perfect excuse to fire his perfect backside.

So, I did the normal thing and followed him back to the dressing room as Edward started up the soundcheck he _really _could have started an hour ago. He was just being a petty child, but even so, I was pretty pissed at Jasper anyway. I'd let it slide for now.

"Hey, Jazzy," His head shot up from staring at his thumbs – he was texting and fast. He looked at me, a wary smile crossing his features. "Can I ask you something?"

There was silence, and then he slowly nodded, motioning for me to come in from where I was standing, hesitant in the doorway. I blinked a couple of times as he waited for me to speak, simply watching the way he breathed and the way his skinny-muscled body responded to the form-fitting shirt he was wearing. I was struck dumb because I was having trouble panning plan what I was about to say.

"What did you want, Alice?" He rose and pocketed his phone, moving to the watercooler and picking up his empty bottle to fill it.

"Just wondering," A pause, "You know how you told me you were... gay?" He nodded silently, and I stepped up behind him, running my hand across his arse and giving it a gentle squeeze, he jumped back and stepped away from me, I stepped closer, "I think you might have been lying to me, Jasper," He shook his head and backed away once again, heading for the door.

"Alice, this is harassment," He said, though I definitely knew that he wouldn't react any further. I pressed myself up against him and suddenly, his hands were pushing me back as I tried to put my hand into his hair.

"You let the brunette do it," I murmured into his ear, "Why's she so different?"

"It's just... She _is _different." He tried again, and I couldn't take it any longer. In half a second, I was screaming at him, over and over, asking him the same question, because four years of pining for him had finally taken its toll.

"Why, Jasper!?" I tried again, this time wrapping a leg around him as he raised his arms and roughly pushed me away.

The door banged open as I hit the floor hard, tears blurring my eyes as I realised I had snapped one of my heels.

"What the _fuck,_ Whitlock?!" Edward was yelling straight at Jasper, and I was sure he raised his fists, getting a couple of punches in before Jasper could shove him off too.

"She came onto me! I tried to get her off me!"

"That's not true!" I managed to scream, even though I knew the words coming out of my mouth were lies. "He lied! He's not gay!"

"I am! I'm –" Edward's fist connected with his jaw as Jasper tried to explain.

"You're for it, Jasper!" Edward managed to shout and Jasper stumbled back, hands against the wall, as he looked down at me, pleading for help as Edward punched him twice more.

I couldn't find the words, and finally, I heard him gasp out three words that made my blood run cold.

"I quit!" He was almost hysterical as tears and blood ran down his face. He gasped again as he tried to beg for help, fallen to his knees, clutching his chest in pain. "Now."

Forcing himself to his feet, and stumbling as he hit the doorframe, Jasper Whitlock stumbled out of the corridor and out of the building, the stage crew looking on as he pushed open the fire-escape doors and stood, in the pouring rain, alone, broken and bruised.

_What the hell had we done?_

* * *

**A/N: Opiniones?! **


	6. LXCue 6

_**Disclaimer: Not mine! Hahahahahhhhhhaaaa!!! I have majori experience with Lighting desks and inappropriate goings on around them though. And i can programme ten submasters in less than ten minutes. **_

_**Mouse555 now knows how this story is going to end up. And I think she likes it. She is my Epic Beta and provides me with fun, laughter and the dangerous red pen! LoveYa!!!**_

_**Enjoyy!!**_

_

* * *

_

_**Bella:**_

"Hello?" _Jasper's number. _I frowned, confused, because he should have been in sound check by now.

"Bella?" His voice was thick and I worried immediately, "Bella, I need you to come pick me up." I resisted the urge to go _Aww _at him because he probably would have beaten me up for it.

"Jazz, are you okay?"

"No," He managed, "I feel sick." He sighed, "I might have quit."

"Might have as in you have," Which confused me, because he loved to play bass, "Or might have as in you haven't but you're nearly there?"

"As in I think Edward wants to beat the shit out of my pretty face." He coughed thickly again, half laughing, and sniffed, and I wondered whether he was actually alright, or whether something terrible had happened.

"Okay," I nodded, even though he couldn't see me, "I'll be there in ten. Where are you? Inside the hall?"

"Outside. By the stage door." He sniffed again, "I'm fucking soaked."

"I'll try and steal Rose's car," I only had a motorbike, and if he was already soaked, that wasn't going to be comfortable, "I'll be there quickly, I promise, Jazz."

"See you, Bella." And the line went dead.

---------------------------------------------- LIGHTS ----------------------------------------- LIGHTS----------------------------------------------

"_H-hi, is this Bella Swan?" I recognised that voice._

"_Yes, it is, who's this, may I ask?"_

"_Jasper Whitlock, er, you might not remember me, I..."_

"_Edward's bassist, right?" I sighed, remembering his tall, lithe structure and his big green eyes that seemed to look through my clothes, "The one that likes his icon on his boots?" _

"_Wow, you remembered?" He sounded genuinely stunned, "How did you-"_

"_Selective memory... and it's kinda hard to forget the worst night of your life, Jasper." He laughed lightly, and I felt myself smiling, regardless. It had been nearly four months since that gig, and this was the first I'd heard from any of them about it. I hadn't even been paid. Bastards._

"_Yeah, well, I kinda...er…sorta wanted to talk to you about that," He said slowly. Dread filled my stomach as I wondered warily whether he was going to berate me even further. _

"_Go on," I frowned and sat down on the closest bench. _

"_Er..." He smiled slightly, "I... kinda wanted to apologise."_

"_For what?" _

"_Everything?" He quirked lightly, "Bloody Emmett, eh?" A small pause as I raised an eyebrow, confused. He continued, "Yeah, I saw that. I'm really sorry I didn't say anything before – Edward can be pretty scary when his temper's up..."_

---------------------------------------------- LIGHTS ----------------------------------------- LIGHTS----------------------------------------------

_Edward can be pretty scary when his temper's up... Edward can be pretty scary when his temper's up... Edward can be pretty scary when his temper's up..._

It stuck in my mind as I gunned the engine of my bike and roared to the concert hall, pulling up at the pavement where Jasper was standing. At least it looked like Jasper – his hair was plastered down, and his eyes were cast down too – though I could barely tell, because his face was so swollen.

I cut the engine and pulled off my helmet, terrified for him.

"Jasper?!" His head shot up, and his hand lifted to his neck. He was groaning from the effort, then, slowly, as it clearly hurt so much, his fingers drifted down to his stomach. "What happened, baby?" He let out a soft chuckle and yelped at the pain.

"Edward happened," He murmured, "Alice happened," He let out a full on guffaw as my fingers drifted to his cheeks, the laughter punctuated with a loud shout of pain as my fingers touched his cheeks, the gash in one of them looking even better than stage makeup. "Shit happened, Bella."

"I guess you really did quit, then?" I managed with a soft laugh, "Looking for somewhere to go?"

"Yes and yes," He laughed lightly and glanced up at the bike that was sitting against the kerb. "Am I gonna have to ride that?"

"Yeah, sorry." I shrugged, "Rose was going out, so I kinda... had no other option." He laughed again, and I offered him my hand, "Come on, I'll get you warmed up."

"Of that, I have no doubt," He sniggered, wincing as the swelling on his face stretched painfully. My lips curved up into a smile as I pulled him toward me as fast as I could possibly allow and his fingers locked with mine as the stage door grated open loudly. "Come on, Bella."

But I had frozen in the doorway. Two people were stood there, one girl, one man. Alice Cullen and her brother, Edward. I couldn't help but smirk because neither of them would recognise me. I knew that. I was sure of that one.

"Jasper!" Alice reached her hand toward us, limp-splashing in the puddles as she tried to get across the pavement to him. "Please, don't!" A pause, "Not like this."

"Bella, come on." I stood firm, because she was on the verge of tears, and I didn't want to miss her crying. My mind was immediately filled with horrible thoughts, until my rational side spoke up.

_No Bella, she's upset. Can't kick a Cullen while they're down. Or can I?_

"We can fix this, Jasper." Edward managed, calmly, collected and calculating as he looked at me. He stared straight through me and I felt a burn in my chest that I worried was something worse than panic.

"Bella, please-" Jazz tugged at my arm and I looked over at him, shaking my head, trying to absorb as much as possible from the moment.

"Bella?" Alice looked at me, her eyes growing wide, and suddenly, for possibly the first time in my adult life, I was visible. She looked me up and down and I smirked, "Bella Swan?"

"Who?" Edward was looking between Alice and I, and I raised an eyebrow at him, challenging him as I felt Jasper tugging on my hand again.

"Bella Swan." I paused, speaking over the intensified splashing of the rain and letting out a soft sigh, "But you would know me better as the _shit-bitch-techie._" I laughed lightly and looked over at Jasper, nodding back at him as I glanced at the stunned face of Edward and the horrified face of Alice.

_I had to have that satisfaction._

"C'mon, Jasper." I whispered, putting an arm around him and smiling up at him. "I'll take you home."

He limped back to the bike and I handed him the second helmet I kept, before placing my own on my head. As he wrapped his arm around me and squeezed me tightly – surprisingly tight for someone who had recently been beaten to hell and back, we risked one glance back at the pair of superstars standing in the rain.

"Jasper!" Alice shrieked, all traces of composure sent three ways into the wind, even though her voice was muffled by the helmet, "We need you tonight! We can't do this without you!" She blinked a couple of times, wiping her eyes, "How can you do this!? We need you! We do-"

My Jasper flicked up his visor and glanced over at them, waving a hand at the two stage crew holding the doors open for Alice and Edward. His voice was calm as he sent them a parting shot which would change our lives forever.

"Now you know how they feel." He squeezed me tight, and we tore off into the rain. _I hoped they got caught by the spray of the back wheel._

* * *

_A/N: Thoughts?_


	7. The History Of Bella 1

_**Disclaimer: Do I own twilight, No. Do I own the characters? No. Do I own a new phone, programmed with ... someone's number? Oh, yes I damn well do. **_

_**Enjoy! **_

_**Definitions:**_

_**A-Frame Ladder:**_ Large, heavy ladder which is collapsible, and usually takes a couple of people to set up. The one I am talking about has a cherry-picker style platform-cage at the top to stand in, so one is safe in the event of tremors etc. It provides an easy way up into the rigging above stage.

_**Slider:**_ Control which one slides up to turn up or dim lights.

"_**marked 21, up to 100": **_Sliders are numbered (eg 1-25), and up to 100 would indicate that the light is at 100percent – the brightest it could go, compared to 50 (half brightest).

_**Cans / Headsets:**_ The way the tech team confers during shows – wired into one another, they are headsets which are attached to packs on the belt and allow users to chat absolute shit to each other. It's so much fun. My favourite bit of cans-chat: "So, who was your favourite from Wacky Races, then?" – "Penelope Pitstop, hands down" – "Fuck that shit, The Mob Brothers, in the hearse thing." – "Guys, please. I'm trying to call a show here. And anyway, Dick Dastardly has all of you beat."

_**Standby & Go:**_ The Two most important words in the techie's dictionary. The first indicates the team should be ready to execute. The second means, essentially, GOGOGOGGOOOO!... yeah. That's how I got taught it, as well.

* * *

_**We're going back into the past now. Bella is 16-17, and we get to see exactly how she first flicked those switches... and the addiction that comes from turning on a couple of lights... **_

* * *

Bella:

I stepped into the main hall and was struck by the image that sat before me. Mr. Tennant was standing about half-way up a huge, A-frame ladder with his arms flailing around, gesturing at the lights that were hanging up in the ceiling, and beneath him, holding the ladder – which appeared to be on wheels – steady, was Mr. Smith, grinning up at the younger man with a half-smile on his face.

"That's about it, Dave," He nodded as the drama teacher – Mr. Tennant, scampered up the ladder again and locked himself into the half-cage at the top so he... _looked _safe, although the squeaking sound the ladder was making was almost ridiculous.

"Fucking things." He shouted down at Mr. Smith, "They never move the way you want them to." He glanced up and smiled, seeing me standing there. "Bella! Do me a favour," He gestured at the big lighting board in the corner, "Can you push the slider marked 21 up to 100?"

"I-I guess so," I shrugged and put my stuff down by the pillar next to the lighting corner, and looked down at the desk. Immediately, my head was swimming. There were tiny lights along one side of it, with buttons underneath it marked MFKs. The sliders – or what I assumed were sliders – they were numbered and looked as though they slid up and down, were separated into two levels – red and green, both with sliders numbered 1-25, and as I stared at them, I heard Mr. Tennant's voice shout out to me.

"The red one Bella." He said, calling across the hall to my dumbstruck personage, "All the way up." I did it, and the light that was above the ladder suddenly shone brightly, right into the middle of the stage. "Nice," I knew he wasn't talking to me, but damn, I was proud of that, and I'd only switched the damn thing on.

"Bella?" I looked up to see Mr. Smith watching me with a small smile on his face. He was a strange one – a history teacher who was into everything else he could get his hands on. I looked at him and let myself chuckle as I thought about it. _Not like that_, _pervert_. My brain had a mind of its own sometimes. I knew he worked on the school productions every-so-often, and to put the pair of them together to do something like this was clearly going to be a hilarious combination.

"Sir?" I replied, trying my best not to smile back at him.

"What would you say to becoming a lighting technician?" Okay. Not what I was expecting. I looked back at him and shrugged lightly, not really knowing what to say. "It's a highly skilled job, and will look really good on the CV, Bella, and of course, we'd train you up..."

"I guess," I shrugged, looking over at them again, "I mean, I'm only a student-"

"We've been looking to run shows through students for a while – we just haven't got around to doing it... would you be interested though?" I considered it. I guessed it would be fun – I mean, the board was menacing, but I supposed that if you knew what you were doing, it would be a laugh.

"Why not?" I shrugged brightly, and Mr. Tennant looked for a pen, writing my name down on his arm, next to another couple of names – Jacob Black and Kim Connweller were there too. I knew them; they were fun to be around... I could see my social life expanding exponentially from here.

**-L-I-G-H-T-S-**

"So..." The crackle of static was audible even with our Cans turned down to minimum. The headsets were old, but they served a purpose, and though I had relinquished the lighting desk to Jake for the main show, I was definitely getting a blow-by-blow of the action as though I was watching it from out front. "Global warming, eh? What's that all about?!"

"Fucking funny, Jake," Kim's voice was low, but irritated. Clearly she was stressed about the temperamental sound board, "We have a show to run here."

"Calm down, Kimi, you know I'm a wind-up merchant, full of the jokes." He laughed into the line and I pushed the little button to turn my headset-mic on.

"No, Jakey, you're a joke. There's a difference." Kim's tiny jolt of laughter made me grin.

"Ooh! Bella! That hurt; right in the heart, woman." If I had been able to see him from the back of the stage, he would have had his hand across his chest, faking a wound.

"Woahh!" I couldn't help but laugh down the connection, "Kim! Hear that!? He's got a fucking heart after all!"

The line was filled with silence as I waited for the end of the scene and the lights to go down. All I could hear was somebody chewing on the headsets, which seriously irritated me as I stood there, feeling a little panic coursing through me as Tyler Crowley screwed around with his lines on stage.

"Whoever that is, will you stop it?" Mr. Tennant was whisper-yelling and I couldn't help but laugh at him. The fact that my headset was still broadcasting meaning that a burst of static followed the sound. "OWCH!" He yelped, and I cringed, embarrassed.

"Sorry!"

"Right, sod it, don't worry, we haven't got time. Stage Crew Curtains, Stand by. Stage Crew Havana, stand by."

"Standing By." I turned and waved to my crew – made up of Tanya, Liam, Siobhan, Garrett, Kate and Felix, all of them in the year below. Pressing my hand to my mic to muffle the sound of my voice to the front of house crew, I spoke to them as they looked up at me, "Guys, Set for the Havana scene ready on blackout and curtain closed."

"'Kay, Bells," Liam lilted, picking up the first of two, giant, badly-painted balsa wood palm tree and moving toward the side of the stage, "Standing by." And quickly, he was joined by Tanya carrying the weights and the others readying to fix the rest of the props, standing as though they were sprinters on their marks.

"Stage Cues Go!" Mr. Tennant's voice hailed us a couple of seconds later, and my hands swiftly tugged at the curtain cord, pulling them shut as Liam and the others raced the curtains to get everything set for the next scene.

"Curtains, ready?" A short pause, then, "Fifteen Seconds, Bella."

"Standby, can we stretch it any longer?" Liam and Siobhan were having trouble with the second tree.

"Eight." It was a race against time. I had Jake giggling, Kim fretting and Tennant hissing countdowns in my ear, and I was frantically giving the crew a hurry-up as they seemed to dawdle on the stage.

"Five seconds, Bella."

"Three." Liam was giving the quick once over to the rest of the stage, as I double clicked my flashlight on him. He was taking too long, and we really couldn't afford to be seen. If this went wrong, the student technical team was out of there.

"Bella, Cue Curtains."

"Shit!" I hissed, tearing my eyes away from Liam as I frantically tugged at the curtains. They exploded open, flooding the stage with light as I felt, rather than saw, the dark haired boy slide home on his backside, having sprinted back to stage right as quickly as possible and lost his footing as he attempted to scramble back to us wearing only socks on his feet. "How bad was it?" I said into my mic, expecting Tennant to attempt to electrocute me.

"We didn't see it, Bella!" Jake's voice sounded out in my ear, "It's all good. What happened?"

"Liam." I said, holding out my hand to my colleague. He stood up and grinned at me, and in a sudden moment of sheer insanity, I pulled him down and kissed him full on the lips.

_Holy fuck. _

"Oh, I like stage-management Bella." He winked and kissed my cheek. "We will discuss this one later."

* * *

_A/N Break from the action... enjoy?_

_xx_


	8. LXCue7

**Disclaimer: I don't own twilight. That would be _too _easy... I have an iPod with summer songs on it – the first one is Baby, by Justin Bieber. _I wish I didn't own that. _**

**_Mouse555 is an awesome Beta. She is always full of good ideas and I think enjoys the fact that this doucheward is slowly going to get his comeuppance. _**

****

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Edward:

_I didn't have time to shower and towel off properly in the time between the fuckers riding off on the hottest motorbike I had ever seen and having to sprint onstage with the biggest, fakest smile I had ever seen. Thankfully, Charlotte was an awesome bassist. _

Okay, no, that entire inner monologue was a lie. We actually had no bassist, now, and we were utterly _fucked_. I had no way of keeping the show going, but no desire to actually cancel the show because that would mean disappointing the pretty ladies in the front row and their boyfriends – who, no matter how shitty the set was, no matter how embarrassed I would be by the end of the night, would still hate the hell out of my guts because any one of those girls would do anything to get backstage with me for half an hour. Now, that was an idea in itself - a little bit of stress relief would be just what the doctor ordered.

When I thought about what the hell had just transpired, part of me was disgusted, part of me was turned on by the thought of a girl in absolute control of that motorbike, and part of me – the part that really was not in control right now, wanted to rip Jasper a new one because he had left me fucking high and dry, an hour and a half before this goddamn show was supposed to go up. And we were supposed to be reviewed tomorrow. Not gonna happen at this rate.

_Fuck my fucking life. Fuck Jasper and fuck that magic-spinning, bitch-brunette-fucking-technical slut that fucked him last night. Fuck them both! They can have each other and fuck the hell off from anywhere near me. _

It was no use. _I just couldn't admit it._

"We're going to have to cancel, tonight." Alice's low voice made me turn around and jump about twenty feet into the air as I looked morosely into the space that would soon hold a quality crowd. "You know that, don't you, Edward?" I shook my head and she went to grab my arm. Furiously, I pulled away and looked over at her again, her eyes were swimming with tears and she looked as though even she had had enough of me. She kept staring though; obviously waiting for an answer, an acquiescence that I wasn't prepared to give.

"Take a picture, Fag hag." I spat, and a second later, immediately regretted it. My manager, my _sister,_ shot one filthy look at me and burst into tears, drawing herself up to her full four-feet-nine-inches, and turning away from me. Immediately, I reached out to her, "Ali, I'm sorr-"

"I _totally_ get why Jasper wanted out now," She hissed, and pulled away from me. Her voice suddenly flat and businesslike as she asked, "Do you want me to call Demetri and get him in? I think he's around, in the city, at least..." She trailed off and looked over at me, before pulling her cell phone from her pocket and dialling a number I had no idea she possessed.

_Well, that was my best friend and my sister completely thrown out of the picture, wasn't it? _

I started to pace, before deciding that I was entirely done with tonight. I would try and find something to do, someone to talk to, maybe fuck the hell out of some random girl in order to get the whole situation out of my system. Recharge my batteries for tomorrow.

"Where the hell are you going, Edward?" Alice shrieked suddenly, as I took the fourth step toward the door, picking up my coat and tugging at my shirt as I went. "Are we not having the show now?" Her voice was full of panic, her face set in an image of sheer terror. "Edward! You... you can't do this! You can't!" She looked on the verge of tears, again, and for half a second, I felt guilty. Then I realised this was probably more her fault than mine.

"I can, and I am." I looked over at her, shrugging my jacket onto my shoulders, and, leaving her in tears, I let the emergency doors shut behind me, my head spinning with hormones, fury and opportunity.

**-L-I-G-H-T-S-**

I headed to the nearest bar – I needed alcohol, and I needed it fast. Flashing my ID got me in and I swiftly found myself standing alone by the mirrored bar at the back of _Eclipse, _some shitty dive that had alcohol, hot-_ish_ girls and a dancefloor, so I wasn't particularly bothered about the state of the place.

As long as I had the fucking alcohol_. Getting the girl would be no problem._

"Hey," I hailed the bartender, but was stunned by the woman who easily shoehorned her way in front of me and made me lose my spot as she leaned forward. My indignation was quickly muted, however, because I got a stellar view of her tits as she tilted her head back and apologised in the sexiest voice known to man – and probably _woman_.

"Oh! I'm sorry," She purred, and I swear her hand dropped to run across the zipper of my jeans. The only problem was that the sensation was gone far too quickly for me to confirm or deny that thought. Her blonde hair swayed precariously as I leaned over to whisper into her ear, she turned to look at me and smirked brightly, downing her drink in one and span around in her chair, opening her legs very slightly in order to let me stand between them and press up against her for the sweetest of moments.

Then she was gone – wriggled out from underneath me and giggling as she moved out onto the dance floor, pulling me along with her and parting the crowd as though she were in possession of some kind of magical power. Her lips curved into a seductive smile as she glanced over her shoulder and saw me following her, the smile growing into a self-satisfied smirk as she turned a corner and disappeared from my line of vision.

As I entered the corridor she had turned into, somebody grabbed a hold of my shirt and tugged me sideways making me yell out. A hand, with nails painted a bright red that stood out even in the muted light, held fast onto my shirt as her cat-that-got-the-cream look on her face made me smirk a ridiculous smirk as this woman, this seductress pulled my mouth down to hers and unashamedly ground herself up against me.

"Come with me," She murmured, unhooking her leg from its sudden position around my hip and pulling me by my tie into a room just off the women's bathroom. It was empty, and though I worried about how swiftly it would become occupied, she swiftly slid the lock across the door and let out a giggle, undoing the zipper of my pants with a ridiculous ease for someone so eager to fuck. She glanced up at me and I raised an eyebrow at the indecipherable expression on her face – one of irritation mixed with desire and confusion. I wanted her, a lot and _**now**_. With her long blonde hair and no-shit attitude, she was fucking... _gorgeous. _

"Baby," I managed to murmur as she started to pull at my tie, "What name am I gonna be yelling out in a couple of minutes?" Her lips brushed my ear and she murmured it quietly as she whipped the tie from my neck at the same time as she had me step out of my jeans.

"Rose." She said softly, then, with a chuckle, "Give me your hands and close your eyes."

I complied, with a little hesitation that she easily allayed by running her palm across my now bulging boxers and pressing her lips gently to mine, tugging at my bottom lip with her teeth.

She pulled gently at my fingers and I complied as she started to wrap my tie around my wrists – I'd never been into kinky public shit, but as long as I was going to get to fuck her, I'd do anything at this point – my head was about to explode, and so was the rest of me.

"Tug gently," She said, and I did, finding that I could move, but only just. "Excellent. Open your eyes, Edward."

I blinked my eyes open. _She knew my name. What the fuck? _There was a flash, and I was blinded again.

Twenty seconds later, the door clicked open and my vision cleared to find the door slamming shut on the back of that damn blonde, and the lock clicking as it closed behind her.

_Ah, shit. _

* * *

_A/N: This? This is nothing._


	9. LXCue 8

**_Disclaimer: Haha! Me, own twilight? Pish orf! (To quote Trainspotting).... _**

**_Okay, so this one's unbeta'd due to an unfortunate turn of events... and my late posting schedule. But I LOVE MOUSE! _**

**_I also love Have I got News For You. _**

**_Enjoy!_**

* * *

**Jasper:**

Bella was sat opposite me, watching me eat with concern etched all over her face.

"You look pretty sore," She murmured, "Are you sure you don't want to see a doctor? It's not a pretty sight..." She trailed off, looking more than a little guilty

"I'm sure it's just bruising," I shrugged as I took another bite of the pasta she had set in front of me, "I don't think there's anything bad about it." Then, as if to prove me completely wrong, I leaned forward and gasped as a horrific shooting pain punched through my chest. I could have screamed, and from the look on Bella's face, she knew I was in serious discomfort.

"Really, Jasper?"

"Yeah, maybe I'm lying." I managed to gasp out, my lips burning at the sensation of the air leaving my lungs both swiftly and painfully. "Okay, I really _am_ lying," I ran my hand across my ribs and felt my jacket buzz against the back of the chair for the fiftieth time in the past half an hour. "Jesus, they really won't quit, will they?"

"I doubt it," She shrugged, starting to clear plates away with her free hand as she kept her eyes on me, "Do you want to talk about it yet?"

It had only been about two hours and I was still seething. Bella had told me she didn't want to hear about it until I had calmed down, because if I was mad, I would be irrational, and she didn't like that, said it ruined the balance of things, biased the person, stopped them from seeing both sides of it, and I couldn't disagree with her.

"No, I'm still seriously pissed."

"Pissed?" A distinctly feminine voice echoed through the hallway and both Bella and I looked up to see Rosalie standing in the doorway, grinning so widely I thought her face was about to split in two as she stood there, holding up her mobile phone. "Hm," She laughed and sat down opposite me in the seat that Bella had been occupying only moments before.

"Where were you, Rosalie?" Bella asked as she turned around and leaned against the kitchen counter, watching her play with her phone almost _too _much. "I thought you'd gone on an absolute rampage..." For a second, Bella looked petrified, "They're still alive, aren't they?"

"Like you'd be complaining if they weren't," Rose flicked her bright, shiny blonde hair over her shoulder and sent me a knowing look. I smirked back and she grinned at me. "Anyway, I just went to cool off..." She waved her phone around again and shrugged.

"Hmm," Bella conceded, coming around to gently brush her hands over my shoulders. "Well, where did you go?"

"Ah, well..." She looked at the pair of us and smirked at me specifically, "Well, you know how you were telling me about Edward? How he goes a-fucking to release his pent-up rage?" We nodded simultaneously and she smirked again, "Well... I may, or may not have..." She looked at the pair of us and I was sure Bella's mouth had dropped open.

"Rose, you didn't?" Bells looked genuinely horrified, her lips almost paling along with her face as she clearly imagined Rosalie doing the worst. "Please, tell me you didn't."

"Well... he definitely wanted me to." She laughed and twiddled with her phone again.

"Oh, for fucks' sake," I managed to blurt, utterly bored of the blatant phone fondling, "What've you got?" Bella let out a light laugh and looked over at me.

"Rule number one, Jasper," She laughed, "Never, ever rise to Rose's bait. She'll give in eventually. Now she gets the chance to gloat. Show us then, you dangerous harlot." She winked and let out that same light laugh as before, Rosalie finally passing over the handset and making Bella laugh out loud as she scrolled through the pictures she held in her hand.

"You like?"

"Oh, my god! Rosie! What the hell did you... did you just leave him like this? Or what?"

"What did she do?" I was suddenly really interested, because Bella wasn't usually as passionate as this. She looked a little bit mad, as well, which could only mean bad things for Edward.

"Look!" Rosalie passed the phone over to me and started to giggle as I took one look at the phone and almost dropped with a reaction that was a mixture of horror and disgust... and a little lust.

Edward was tied up in a bathroom, his silk tie around his wrists, wrapped around the LED lights above the mirror as he opened what could only be described as lust-filled eyes, a hard-on that looked like he had a baguette stuffed down his pants.

He looked absolutely ridiculous. It was a public bathroom. I couldn't help but look up at Bella and Rosalie and let out the loudest laugh I had in a long time.

"He'll kill you!" I managed to splutter, "Honestly, he will!" though the sentiment was rather blunted by the huge guffaws that followed the words.

"Oh screw it!" Now Rosalie was shaking her head, trying to dispel the laughter that was still bubbling from her lips, "I'm posting these online!" She was quickly fumbling with her phone, but I was watching Bella, who had a terrifying, calculating look on her face.

"No! Rose, wait!" The blonde's fingers froze over the keypad of her BlackBerry, and she looked up at Bella, eyes wide.

"Why? I thought-"

But Bella simply smirked, shaking her head lightly; a wide smile flitting across her face as she looked up at Rosalie, then glanced at me.

"Oh, Rosalie. Rosie, Rosie, Rosie..." She smirked again, holding her hands out to Rosalie as she reluctantly relinquished the phone to Bella's waiting hands. "This," She said softly, waving the phone around in the air, "Is what we like to call..." Another pause, "An Excellent opportunity for blackmail."

_Let it be known, I was absolutely terrified about the grin on her face._

"Blackmail?" Rosalie's grin matched Bella's, and they both turned to me. "Oh, Jasper," I looked up at them, terror coursing through be because they were clearly plotting something extremely devious, and the smirk on Bella's face was attractive, dangerous and fucking scary.

_I hoped I never got on her bad side. _

"I'm keeping these hidden," Rosalie said, suddenly, looking the pair of us up and down, "Jasper, if the need should arise, I'm definitely passing these on to you." And, with a short nod, she left Bella and I in the kitchen, staring at each other without anything to say.

"He's an asshole," I started suddenly as Bella collapsed into the chair she had been sitting in before. "He's arrogant, has no respect for anybody..." She looked up at me, "He hurt you, and he hurt me, and damnit! I never touched Alice, told her I was gay so she wouldn't keep trying it on with me!"

"Okay, Jasper." She nodded, "You've quit, now, what're you going to do?"

I stopped and considered, because in the heat of the moment, I knew I had lost my head, and definitely hadn't thought this through before quitting.

"Er..." I bit my bottom lip and looked over at Bella, feeling the heat rise in my face as I readied myself to say what I counted as something stupid, but something ridiculously intelligent at the same time. "You said you were looking for techies? I'm barely qualified, but if you give me a week, I'm pretty sure I could at least take on stage management duties?"

"We don't need a stage manager, Jasper," She was biting her lip and looking down at the floor, "We need at least one new sound guy," She stopped and glanced up at me, "Can you work a board?"

"I work in the music business," I managed, the smile on my face widening as I realised that this could be an absolutely wonderful coincidence. "And I spend a helluva lot of time with the techs. I think I've picked up a thing or two."

There was a pause, and then she looked up and glanced at me, smiled, and settled her head on her hands.

"I'll have to interview you, or actually, Rose can do that." She paused, "I'll need a CV and you'll need to help tech a show so we know how you respond to everyone else," She ran a hand through her hair and stretched up, "We're a team, at La Bella Rosa, and we do switch roles – everyone does, so you'll be expected to front of house, and stuff," She stopped, looking at me as though I already had the job.

"Anything else?"

"Only one other condition." She stopped, smirking brightly, "Part of your first paycheck goes to a date with me?"

"Oh," I stopped, as though it was a hardship, "I don't know..."

"I probably should let you know that I put out from day one," She giggled, and I looked her up and down.

"I'm in. When's the interview?"

* * *

_A/N: Enjoy?_

_Cricketward will be updated soon. I promise._


	10. LXCue 9

_**Disclaimer: I'm shitty with a posting schedule. I'm tired, and sore, but I'm posting. I am SO not Stephenie Meyer. **_

_**Dimmer Switch: Essentially, the Dimmers control how bright the lights go, or how dark. **_

_**Calls: When a person is 'called' they are alerted to the time they have before they are due onstage. This is usually down to a runner, or one of the stage-managers.**_

_**Sorry, it's been a while. **_

__

**Enjoy!**

* * *

_**Jasper: **_

I stepped into the lobby of the theatre and looked around. The city had always been my home, so I knew my way around, but coming here was something new – the fringe of the town, the arts district. Something different.

Bella had let me stay the night, on the promise that I would call my parents and move back in with them at least before the next week – the house Bella and Rosalie owned only had two bedrooms, and though Bella and I had shared, there really was very little room for the three of us in one house – no matter how much I wanted to stay. So, when Bella and Rosalie had left at half past seven that morning – a time I was hardly used to, I had busied myself with calling up my mother and begging her to take me back.

_She was still considering it. _

So now I was standing in the grand foyer of _La Bella Rosa_, and looking around in confusion at the sheer amount of people standing in such a small space, milling around and seemingly drifting in the direction of the doors – though I wasn't entirely sure. A voice made my head snap around too quickly, and I felt dizzy, because my head was already spinning.

"Sir, I'm sorry! You'll have to come back later, the ticket office is closed, sir." I looked up at the girl who was stood, arms folded, on the stairs up into the auditorium itself.

"I'm here to interview, for the technical position," I managed as she took a couple of steps toward me, "I'm sorry, I'm probably really early, but-"

"_You're_ Jasper?" Her voice was filled with surprised, and almost immediately, her arms dropped from their foldedness and opened out brightly, "It's nice to finally meet you! Bella's talked about you for months, you know." She stopped, "I'm Angela," She offered her hand, "Kim and Jacob are around here somewhere, I think Jake's holding down the fort with the lights – one of them blew and he's having terrible trouble fixing it. It keeps buzzing..." She trailed off and glanced down at her hand, clearly wondering if I was just going to leave her hanging or not. I hesitated for a half second, but took her hand anyway, a small smile lighting my face as I realised I knew exactly what the problem was.

"Your dimmer, it might not be as good quality as it could be – that's why it keeps buzzing. The voltage change..." I trailed off and looked up at her; she was still stood on the bottom step as she looked at me as though I was the most intelligent creature on earth.

"Oh! Damn! Why didn't we think of that?" She slapped a hand to her head, in a way I only thought happened in comedy movies and nodded to me. "Listen, I'll just run that over to Jake, can you hang on here for five minutes? I'll be as quick as I can, and I'll let Bella know you're here." She paused for a second, "There's water behind the bar, feel free to take a bottle."

She turned and dashed up the stairs, leaving me standing alone at the bottom of a rather grand staircase wondering for a second exactly what was going on.

_**-L-I-G-H-T-S-**_

_**Alice:**_

I paced furiously across the room until I hit the blank white wall, then turned back, started pacing again, gripping my hair in frustration and fishing my phone from my pocket.

"Edward! Pick up your damn phone!" There was silence on the other line – had been talking to his voicemail for nearly three days now, and I hoped to god that he hadn't run out of battery or the suchlike, because if he had, we wouldn't be hearing from him for the next week or so.

I slammed the damn thing shut, and stuck it back into my pocket, jamming it as far into my jeans as I possibly could, hoping it would go away, hoping _he _would go away... hoping _everything _would go away.

"Heyy! Ali, baby!" I span on my heel as the silence, precious, precious silence, was shattered by _Demetri Marconi_, Bassist Extraordinaire flouncing into the room. I cringed, because there was no other reaction to be had to 'Dimi', just awkwardness and... _shuddering._

"Demetri!" I giggled, as falsely as I possibly could, "By any chance have you seen Edward? He's gone missing, and..." I shook my head, "Well, after the Jasper incident," _Which I desperately wanted to refer to as JasperGate, _"I really want to keep tabs on him."

"He's doing the nasty with somebody, _non_?" Demetri asked, and I rolled my eyes, really not wanting to think about my brother's sexcapades at all. _Ever. _I cringed and looked up at him as he clapped twice. "Ah! Michael is still with us!" Mike looked up from where he was settling down to his drums and I think his expression said more than words ever could.

_Oh-shit-get-me-out-of-here-I-didn't-want-to-see-this-bitch-ever-again. _

"Yep!" I snapped the gum I had been chewing for about an hour as I spoke. It sounded ridiculous, but it shut Demetri up within half a second, the look on his face mixed somewhere between disgust and 'I'm about to vomit'. Not a pretty sight.

"That's marvellous!" He let out a short, and no doubt false laugh, I cringed and waited for his next sentence, "And Peter? Charlotte? Are they both with us? Are they still together?" Part of me wished that he would stop referring to the band as _us, _and shut the hell up. I turned my back on him as he wandered over to Mike and started up another inane conversation.

At this rate, I would be flat out refusing to pay Jasper his money for leaving us with... _him_.

_**-L-I-G-H-T-S-**_

_**Jasper:**_

After ten minutes of waiting, I hopped over the bar counter and found the fridge, pulling out a bottle of water and leaning against the countertop itself, comfortable and at ease just looking around at the decor.

"Hey, Barkeep!" I swivelled and saw a hulk of a man standing at the top of the stairs, "Nice job with the dimmers, dude," He stepped and stumbled down the stairs, thrusting his hand out to me and grinning like a lunatic, "We've ordered some better ones, I'll fit them in next Sunday," Another pause, "I'm Jake, by the way. Jake Black. Angela will have mentioned me?"

"Yeah," I nodded, "Jasper Whitlock," He nodded straight back, then, as I looked at him, I realised exactly where I had heard his name before. "Hold up a second, Jake as in Bella's High-School-Tech-Team Jacob?"

"The very same." He nodded, "When we all left for university, we sort of split apart, but Bells called us all up about six months ago, asked us if we'd be interested in..." He threw his hands up and motioned in every direction, "This."

"Yeah, she told me she'd picked up some friends, I didn't realise she meant... _old_ friends," I laughed, "But hey, it's good to know the people you're working with, no?"

"Yeah, until they bring out the baby pictures!" Jacob took the soda I was offering and drained it quickly. "Has Bella been around yet?"

"Angela... I think it was Angela, said she'd let her know I was here, but... I've not seen her yet." I looked at him as I spoke, but saw movement out of the corner of my eye and glanced over to the main auditorium doors to see Bella standing in the passageway, looking right at home with her dark chocolate hair pulled up into a bun and her blacks blending into the darkness of the theatre behind her.

I could have stared at her all day.

"Jazz!" She looked up from speaking on her phone and her face broke into a huge smile, her eyes lighting up as she glanced back down at the display, "I'm sorry, I'll have to call you back..." She spoke as she stepped down the stairs, tripping on the carpet as she reached the bottom step. "Jasper!"

"Jesus, you've done a number on her," I heard Jacob grunt under his breath as she reached me and wrapped her arms around me, pressing a kiss to my cheek. "Bells, the boy can fix a dimmer switch." She grinned up at me and glanced over at Jacob before blinking a couple of times and stepping away to get a bottle of water.

"Good. Rosalie and Kimi will be here to interview you in a minute."

"Kimi?" I looked up at her and frowned slightly, "I thought-"

"I'm not interviewing you, Jasper," Bella smiled, "That would be cheating. I'll tell you you'll have a test or two, just to see how well and quickly you can work... and obviously there'll be the usual line of questioning..." She shrugged, "I couldn't do it, I'd be biased." She laughed again, patting Jake on the shoulder as she indicated somebody trying to come through the door. "Get rid of them?"

"Course, boss." He smirked and winked and I barely held back a growl. Bella heard me of course.

"Hey," She smiled up at me as she settled herself on top of the counter, "Don't sweat it." I glanced back up at her and she smiled, "You're shaking," She reached up and ran a thumb across my forehead, trying to smooth out the crease that had bedded itself in when Jake had winked. "He's a friend, and you're going to do fine." Another moment of silence as she leaned forward and kissed me lightly. "I can't wait to introduce you to Liam."

Wait a second - hang on. _Liam?_

_**-L-I-G-H-T-S-**_

**Alice: **

_Edward Cullen was going to die. _

_He was going to die tonight._

_He was going to die by __**my**__ hand, and when I was done, I was taking him to the hospital so they could revive him and I could kill him again. _

_Twice. _

"He's late." Mike made the ever-so-insightful comment as he sat down behind the drums and added a quiet _ba-dum-tssh_ as he grinned back at me. Demetri laughed, though I wondered whether that was because he was trying, albeit unsuccessfully, to get into Mike's pants.

"Really, Michael?" Charlotte got there before I could bite his head off, "He's a bloody day late, and it's not good enough! We're supposed to be reviewed tonight," She shook her head, "And no disrespect, but we're in shit. We have a missing lead guitarist and singer, we have a brand new bassist who barely knows our music, and I have a headache. So get a fucking grip, Mike."

"Sorry, Charli." He had the grace to look ashamed of himself for all of thirty seconds, then resumed mock drumming, using a snare brush to keep the noise down.

Eventually, however, I snapped at the silence, and told them to start practising something, anything, as long as it was playable tonight. The place felt like hell, and I was almost entombed in it. Part of me wanted to run, just like Jasper had.

"Hello?" One of the boys in black, I didn't know his name, but I knew he was one of the technical crew interrupted from the side of the stage. I nodded and he came closer, walking slowly onto the stage as though he didn't want to be seen.

"What's the problem... er-"

"My name's Alec." He said softly, even his voice seemed to be trained for backstage, "I've been providing Edward's calls for nearly a week now." He added the last bit in a half whisper, so quiet I wasn't even sure I had heard him.

"What's the problem, Alec?" I said, and I knew my voice was harsh, but I wasn't in the mood to be distracted.

"Edward... he came into his dressing room... and he's just... I don't even know, Ms. Cullen." He shrugged, "I tried to help, but he yelled, so I figured..." Another shrug.

"I'll..." I bit my bottom lip and nodded. "I'll see what's wrong with him."

And with that, I stepped past him, walking quickly down the corridor that led to Edward's dressing room as Alec followed nervously behind.

_Shit, shit. Fucking shit. Jasper was __**so **__not getting paid._

* * *

_A/N Cricketward is coming, I promise. _

_Like, actually properly coming. Tomorrow, maybe?_

_Reviews?_


	11. LXCue 10

_**Disclaimer: Haha! Me, own twilight? No. ... **_

_**Hang on! An update? What? WOW! Go check my TVD stuff to see why I'm a bit late...**_

_**Definitions:**_

_**The Gods: where the lights are**_

_**Parcans: The lights. **_

_**Blindspot: Where the light doesn't reach. Unfortunately and quite irritatingly, there's always a little point where there's NO light. And the actors ALWAYS stand there.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

* * *

LX10

_**Rosalie:**_

He sat there, breathing in and out quickly and sharply and I was a little bit afraid of him collapsing and dying right in front of me. I could almost hear Kim's thoughts as she sat and stared between us, _Got to get this one sorted and finished, Rose. Before he dies, preferably. _

"So, Jasper, one last question, because I'm really quite interested in this," Kim looked up at the pair of us from her seat across the room and unfurled her legs slowly, the way she would usually get boys to stare at her. Jasper didn't even _blink_ as he levelled his gaze at her and nodded simply.

"Go on." The tremor in his voice had slowed and he sounded a lot more comfortable than he had done ten minutes ago.

"Why?" She smiled as he frowned, wondering what exactly she meant. "I mean, seriously, why would you choose to join a fringe theatre when," She glanced down at the CV Jasper had handed us, and made a small face of confusion, "You've been a bassist for nearly six years," Another quick glance down, "With _Edward_ _Cullen_, no less..."

_Yeah, the Edward Cullen who was so stupid that he let me blindfold and tie him up half naked... really, really smooth. _

"I've been at the end of my rope with Edward for a while," Jasper shrugged and lifted his hand, "His manager's pretty psychotic, and... well, I couldn't stand it any longer..." He shrugged and lifted his palms in a sort of surrender. "And, of course, Bella mentioned you guys were looking for new techies, and..." He shrugged, "Well, I have serious history with technical stuff... sixteen to eighteen, and later on with the touring, I helped roadie a bit..." He shrugged again and I couldn't help but smile. Bella had mentioned his kindness a couple of years ago – the provisions of water and Red Bull. The laughter he had provided and the sheer humiliation of the _aftermath_.

"So basically, you're done with that, and wanting something different, but familiar?" Kim said as I opened my mouth to speak, cringing slightly at her interruption. Minutes ago, she had been all sweetness and flirt, and now she was grouchy, pissy and more than wound tight. Pregnancy was not going well with her. Part of me wondered whether Jared was being particularly careful about her... _needs._

"_Yes,_" Jasper said, and I was surprised at his furious tone. I would probably analyse the conversation later, and realise that there were times when we'd repeated the same question eight times over – until the bloke in front of me threw himself onto his feet and swore. "I'm sorry," He said as he looked up into our petrified faces. "My phone has been ringing nonstop and I just bloody want to destroy it. I know who it is," He said tiredly, shaking his head and pulling the handset from his pocket. "And I _don't _want to talk to them."

We both watched as he lifted the phone and hurled it at the wall. It hit and split into at least three pieces, cracking loudly and making us all cringe.

"Fucking Alice." He hissed, "Look, I'm sorry, do you mind if..." He half-shrugged and gestured at the door. "I'm not... in the right frame of mind right now," He sighed. Kim looked over at me and nodded lightly, shrugging slightly. "I can come back later, or something, and honestly... I promise I'm not like this usually... just really, really stressed-"

"Of course," I nodded, smiling up at Jasper. "We'll talk to the others and see what's what." _Even though just looking across a Kim indicated that yes, Jasper was going to get the job on offer. Freakin' mood minutes were getting all psychotic._

"Thank you," He smiled up at the pair of us and stretched, "I'm just going to go for a walk, okay? Can you let Bella know?" He smiled and blushed before looking out at the door and smiling, "I have a ticket for tonight as well," He grinned sheepishly and wandered closer to the door. "I'll see you later."

As he left the room, he crouched down to pick up the pieces of his phone and walked away, shrugging his jacket back onto his shoulders and wrapping his arms around himself, his head bowed as he walked away, dragging his feet. The poor boy needed something to keep his feet on the ground, because he looked as though he was going to burst into tears.

I took two steps and gripped his shoulder. He froze and turned to look at me, his eyes a little bit wild.

"Jasper?" He nodded, "Go and get a drink at the bar. Bella'll be on her lunch break in about ten minutes. I'm sure she'd like to hang out with you for a little bit."

"Thanks." He offered me a tight smile and nodded as he stepped out of the room, head still bowed.

_**Bella:**_

I wrapped my hair back around the clip and looked up into the Gods to see if anything could be done to fix the slight shadow we had been getting from one of the parcans ever since the last theatre company had come through. It looked alright in the daytime, but when it came to bringing the lights down for a show, there was a definite blindspot which was irritating me beyond belief.

"Hey, Bells?" Rosalie's voice made my head snap around, "Jasper needs you," Another pause, "He's by the bar. I think..." She shrugged, "Something's eating at him..."

"Okay, I'll be one second..." I paused and looked up at the rigged lights again. Shrugging at it, almost giving up – though I would send Angela to look at it later – I turned back to the auditorium doors and sprinted up into the sunshine, looking at Jasper as he sat on one of the barstools, carefully examining his fingers.

He looked eighteen again, his hair, dyed black but showing through honey blonde and sugary sweet, was coming through at the roots, and his fingers wound in it as he drew his other hand into his mouth and chewed at the skin on the side of his nails. _Oh, Jasper._

His head snapped up as though he had heard me, and I wondered whether he really was psychic – as he had claimed a million times over the phone. The small smile I gained as his eyes met mine was more than I could have expected.

"Jasper?" I raised an eyebrow and smiled back at him. "What is it?"

"Fucking Alice." He said, lifting the pieces of his phone from his pocket and holding them out as though he were attempting to feed the five-thousand with a busted up iPhone.

"C'mon, let's go get you a handset and a new number." I reached out for his hand and kissed the top of his head as he pulled me into his arms, "You'll go crazy otherwise."

"I know. Trust me, I know." His lips touched against my neck and we both sighed at the contact. "Right. Phone, for sure. I need a new phone."

And with that, his hand wound around mine, and we were almost sprinting out of the theatre and onto the high road, ready to reinstate Jasper into the world of Techie.

* * *

_A/N: Review? And yeah, sorry about the lateness :S_


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